Omaha Poker Good Starting Hands

When you're playing hole card games such as Omaha, choosing the right hands to play preflop can make a big difference -in fact, it can make all the difference.

Before we start discussing the right methods of ranking starting hands, let us have a look at several wrong views widespread among beginners, used to playing holdem. Wrong opinions in ranking starting hands in Omaha poker 1) “A good four-card hand of good starting values in holdem is also a good hand in Omaha.” This theory seems to be the. How to Play Poker. Poker Rules; Poker Strategy; Poker Hands; Poker Dictionary; PokerStars School; Poker Games. Texas Hold'em; Omaha; Omaha Hi/Lo; 5 Card Omaha; 5 Card Omaha Hi/Lo; Courchevel; Courchevel Hi/Lo; Stud; Stud Hi/Lo; Razz; Five Card Draw; 2-7 Triple Draw; 2-7 Single Draw; HORSE; 8-Game Mix; Hold'em/Omaha; Badugi; Software News.

If you play absolutely every hand, you're just going to funnel your winnings right back into the game. However, in Omaha especially, you want to play enough hands to scoop some big pots. Those of you crossing over from Texas Hold'em will find yourself playing a lot more hands. Omaha Hold'em is definitely more of an action based game than its sister game Texas Hold'em.

• James How to play Omaha, How to play Omaha poker, Poker Strategy June 22, 2019 June 22, 2019 How to play Omaha poker, Omaha starting hands How to play Omaha poker is one of the mysteries of life, you need an Omaha poker strategy and to know your starting hands – the best Omaha hands – learn it all here.
• But for any decent players being selective over starting hands is still of utmost importance, therefore the amount of hands played in 5 card omaha strategy shouldn’t different too much from regular omaha. Starting hands with pairs. Group 1: JJxxx, QQxxx, KKxxx, AAxxx – are all reasonable starting pairs.
• The difference between Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and No Limit Hold'Em (NLH) is still massively underestimated. When starting out in PLO, it's imperative that you adjust your starting hands from NLHE. In Hold 'Em, a hand like q q is considered extremely strong, however, in PLO, a hand like q q 8 3 is a very weak hand and should almost never be played.

When a game of Omaha begins you'll be dealt 4 cards, and from those 4 cards you can come up with 6 starting hand combinations. Omaha rules require you to use exactly 2 of your hole cards and 3 of the community cards (the ones dealt face up on the felt table and shared amongst all the players).

So you get two more cards than you're used to, and so do all of the other players. In fact, there are in general a lot more cards out there to play with.

That variance makes playing Omaha poker, creating winning Omaha strategies, and choosing strong Omaha starting hands a little trickier. Although you get 4 cards to choose from, keep in mind that so do all the other players at the table, so there are more cards dealt out altogether.

Suited Cards - Remember, You Only Get to Keep Two...

Finding yourself looking down at four cards of the same suit is not a good thing when you're playing Omaha. If you're holding four spades what you really have is two spades to a flush, and two of your own outs mucked.

Pocket Pairs

Pocket pairs in Omaha are a good hand, but not nearly as valuable as in Texas Hold'em. The look on a new players face when he first sees a solid boat get beat by another boat… it's priceless. It's not uncommon to see three sets of trips at showdown, or a couple boats, a flush, and top two pair.

What I'm saying here is that with all these cards and so many more players paying for a flop, you're going to need a lot better of a hand to win a pot.

The Best Possible Starting Hand in Omaha High:

When playing straight Omaha, or Omaha High, the best hand you can hope to peel up from the table is AAKK. That's it, the very best hand preflop. Now you want these to be suited as well to give you the best odds post flop. So Something like Ah As Kh Ks would be perfect.

Now you've got two shots at flopping trips, two cracks at a flush draw, and a high straight possibility. You are holding your out cards for a full house if you make trips, but in the Omaha high world, this is as good as a starting hand gets. And if all else fails there, you've still got that pair of aces workin' for ya.

Second up on the list of Highest ranking Omaha High Starting hands is AAQQ, still giving you a nice pair of bullets to start off the show. In addition here you have AQ for pulling off Broadway straights. And of course we want the hand to be double suited such as Ah As Qh and Qs, giving you two shots at making a flush.

Omaha Hi Hand Ranking Chart:

**Please assume that these hands are all Double Suited**

The Best Starting Hands for Omaha Hi/Lo...

The most popular versions of Omaha today are the Hi/Lo varieties which award a pot to both the highest hand and to the lowest hand. Omaha Hi-Lo is super fun to play because the action is insanely intense.

You already have a full table seeing more flops, but now you have the lowest hand betting against the highest hand, and both actually standing to win. However, if you play your cards right, you'll be playing hands that will give you a shot at scooping up both the low pot and the Omaha high pot all in one clean swoop.

Omaha Hi/Lo players are eligible to win either the entire pot or a 50/50 split. The pot is of course split when there is a winning 'low' hand. A winning low hand must include five cards all under 8 (hence the Omaha 8 nickname) and different in value; a hand with a pair doesn't count, because it's no longer a low qualifying hand.

So with that in mind, the best possible hand to win the low is A2345.

Due to the fact that a player MUST use two cards from their hand and three from the board, a low hand is only a possibility if there are three or more cards on the table that are an 8 or lower. Learn more about Omaha Hi/Lo.

The Best Starting Hand in Omaha Hi-Lo Hands Down!

The best hand a dealer can put in front of you in an Omaha Hi Low game is AA23, especially if the ace and the deuce are suited, and the other ace and 3 are also suited.

This hand, dealt exactly this way (double suited), gives you the best shot at hitting flushes, straights, and the best low, not to mention it begins with a pair of aces you can use to build a high hand.

Considered to be the second best starting hand in Omaha Hi/Lo is AAK2, giving you a pair of aces and AK to work your way into a decent high hand, and A2 to work toward the low.

More Omaha Poker Strategy:

Online Poker » Poker Strategy » Omaha » Starting Hands

Omaha Poker Good Starting Hands Images

From my experience playing poker, I have to be quite honest here. Even with all the various kinds of poker resources available to players such as books, online training programs and various strategy articles, I am still amazed when I see players sit down only to play every single hand they are dealt. And whenever they are questioned about their wonderful array of starting hands, the excuses are endless; 'there were two face cards, one of them was an ace, they were connected, both were suited.'

You know, I suppose this is an arguably reasonable strategy since these players are bound to catch a hand at some point. Ok, yes, I am joking. Playing every hand has to be single handedly the reason for the downfall of so many player's bankrolls.

This major leak is only amplified when players sign up to play Omaha or Omaha 8 or better since players are being dealt four cards instead of two. The possibilities seem endless then and players seem to find any reason possible to be involved in a hand.

Well, that ends now. What I have done below is highlight the hands that players need to focus on playing and the hands that need to be thrown away in our Omaha and Omaha 8 or better starting hand guide.

Hands to Play in Omaha/Omaha 8 or Better

One of the most important things to keep in mind when playing Omaha or Hi/Lo is that this game is about the 'nuts.' Since there will be so many potential draws out there, players should always play for the nut high or when applicable, the nut low. So, first let's look as some solid Omaha Hi hands and then we'll take a look at lo starting hands.

Omaha Hi

When playing Omaha players need to keep a few things in mind. To begin with, it is important when choosing a starting hand that you are starting a hand that is giving you the most possible outs possible. Let's look at a couple examples:

• Ad-Ah-As-Ac -Bad Hand
• Ad-Kd-As-Ks -Best Hand

Ok, so many of you may be wondering, why would 4 aces be bad to have as starting cards? Well, when choosing a starting hand you want to start with a hand that is going to give you the most outs possible to the best hand. While a pair of A's is a strong hand, 4 A's in the hole doesn't do you any good because now they aren't available for outs. Does that make sense? This will also apply to having 4 flush cards in the hole as well. Those would be two less flush outs that you have to draw to.

Now, a pair of Aces and Kings in the hole is a great hand and in fact, when they are double suited they are arguably the best starting hand in Omaha. This is because you have both a pair of aces and kings to use in the case you hit trips, there are multiple outs to nut straight and flush draws and these are 4 cards that no one else will be able to use as outs. Aside from a pair of aces and kings double suited, here is a short list to get you started:

• A-A-K-K Double Suited
• A-A-J-T Double Suited
• A-A-Q-Q Double Suited
• A-A-J-J Double Suited
• A-A-10-10 Double suited
• A-A-9-9 Double Suited
• A-A-x-x (x=any card)
• J-T-9-8 Double Suited
• K-K-Q-Q
• K-K-J-J

Ok, there is a top ten list to go by when you sit down to play Omaha Hi. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you want to draw to the nuts and have the most outs to do so. A great example of this would be the fact that J-T-9-8 ranks higher than K-K-Q-Q; there are more possibilities with a hand like J-T-9-8 double suited than K-K-Q-Q such as straights and flushes.

So, always be sure you are starting with these types of hands, preferably double suited, and that should make your life much easier in Omaha Hi.

Omaha Hi/Lo

When I first got started in Omaha Hi/Lo, I thought it was exactly the same as Omaha Hi except now you can chase both the Hi's and Lo's. Sadly, I was mistaken; and here is why.

The goal in Omaha isn't to just win just the Hi half of the pot or just the Lo the half, but to 'scoop' the entire thing. This is done by having both the best hand that qualifies for both. To put this quite simply, this cannot be done with just a Hi hand because Hi cards cannot qualify for a lo. On the other hand, a Hi/Lo win is quite achievable starting with a Lo hand because you are already drawing to a low but if you hit a straight or a flush, then you can qualify for the high as well. This is very important to remember. Now, here is a short list of starting hands for the Hi/Lo games:

• A-A-2-3
• A-A-2-4
• A-A-2-5
• A-A-3-4
• A-A-3-5
• A-A-4-5
• A-2-3-4

Here is a good list to get you started. I didn't include the high hands because they are listed above and to be quite honest, those really are mediocre hands in Hi/Lo and should only be played when you have position and are in a pot with as few players as possible. Again, the lo hand can draw to both Hi/Lo pots and Hi can only draw to Hi.

Lastly, it is important to avoid medium pairs and straights such as 7-8-9-10 or something similar because you would simply be catching the higher end of a Lo draw and the lower end of a Hi draw. This is quite dangerous and more times often then not, you will find yourself being second best.

Omaha Poker Good Starting Hands Printable

Starting Hands in Omaha

Omaha Poker Good Starting Hands Youtube

When getting started in Omaha or Omaha Hi/Lo it would be in a player's best interest to use our starting hand guide above and not deviate too far from it for a while. Omaha is a 'nuts' game and the sooner you have that memorized, the better off you will be. If anything else, just remember that in terms of starting hands in Omaha or any poker game for that matter, 'less is more.'